Craft the Ideal Workspace

Whether you’re constructing a new room for your office or squeezing into an existing space, you need to make sure that your new PMO workspace is well-lit, clean, and above all, comfortable. You’re going to spend hours at your desk, so you’d better make sure it’s somewhere tolerable. You’ll be on the phone a lot, speaking with your team and the clients, so find a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed (or won’t disturb anyone).

Get Connected

A fast, reliable Internet connection is non-negotiable. Get the best connection you can afford (or close to it), because you’re probably going to be transferring a boatload of files and video conferencing all the time. Speaking of which, get your team set up on a program like Skype or Google’s video chat. Some project management tools offer video conferencing as well, if you want a one-stop solution.

If most of your team works from home or on flex schedules, set up scheduled meeting times so the team can still get together virtually.

Step Up the Organizing

Working remotely means organization is even more critical than normal (and that’s saying a lot). You need to pay more attention to task assignments and team performance, since you can’t glance over and see what they’re working like you can in an old-fashioned office. You need to make certain your team has up to date information on project health and current timelines—especially if you’re working in an Agile environment. Project management software can help in this regard, but as the project manager you have to be the one to tap people on the virtual shoulder if things are starting to slip.

Prepare for Failure

You’re not going to have an IT department to call on (except for maybe yourself), so make sure you take proper precautions with your equipment. Have backups of everything—including computers. Keep your local computer repairman on speed dial, and have an emergency work location in case your Internet goes down at a critical moment. Coffee shops or your library are a good choice. The objective here is to set up a system where you can still function even if everything goes to hell.  

With this setup, as long as you keep up your motivation and stay free from distractions, you’ll be able to manage your projects from the comfort of your own home!

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Don’t Mistake Price for Value

Cheaping out on contractors doesn’t usually end well—project managers who lowball jobs might hire a contractor that is too unskilled or inexperienced. But more expensive contractors may not be worth the money either. Overpriced contractors might do just as little for your project as the cheap ones—while using up your budget faster.

Don’t shop based on price—rather, shop by value. What experience do they bring to table relative to yours? Are they the right kind of specialist the task needs? What is their work process, and will it make your job easier or harder? All these factors will help determine if you’re getting a great deal.

Double-check Samples

So the contractor sent over samples of his work, right? Great! But don’t take them at face value. It’s rare, but I know project managers who’ve been burned by contractors with fraudulent samples. In those cases, the contractor was part of the team that created it, but did not do a significant enough portion of the work to deserve credit. In another case I encountered, a designer/contractor actually lifted his portfolio from someone else’s site!

You shouldn’t assume that every contractor is a fraudster, but neither should you accept things without question. Get one of your team members’ opinions on the sample works. He may be able to notice something you don’t.

Ask for Referrals—and Research Them

The best judges of a contractor’s performance are people who’ve actually used him. Ask to speak to some of his former clients-either through email or over the phone. Asking them the right questions can get you some very interesting insights that the contractor may not even be aware of.

Like always, don’t take things at face value. Research the referral and his company. Is this person legit, or is it actually one of the contractor’s buddies? If they are, make sure that their experience is relevant to your own—that they work in a similar industry to yours or executed a similar project. If it’s not, then the testimonial isn’t any good at all, and you’re still left in the dark about your own requirements.

Ask for his Work Process

If you’re going to be managing a contractor remotely, you need to find out how he structures his work day. You need to find out the time that he’s most productive, the best time to call him, and how long it takes him to do tasks. Ideally, you want someone self-disciplined, who knows his own quirks and structures his day around them so to maximize his productivity. If he flakes out on his own commitments, then he’s probably going to flake out on yours.

Image Credit: Flickr, Speshul Ted

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Losing Momentum

It’s possible to sprint your way through short to medium length projects, but longer ones need the entire team (including you) to stay focused for months on end. But this saps energy and morale, and you risk running out of steam as the project draws to a close. Fatigue and complacency encourage mistakes, which may extend the project even further as you try to correct them.

Moments like these are where you earn your money as a leader. Keep your team focused and goal-oriented, and give them something to shoot for after the final project stage: a much needed vacation or team outing, for example, or if you can pry it out of HR/accounting, perhaps a monetary reward of some sort. Something that motivates better than, “we’ll finally get this project out of our hair.”

Cramming

The opposite of losing momentum is going into overdrive or “crunch time”. In this scenario, the project is lagging behind and your team is scrambling to finish as much as they can before the project deadline. Overtime will become par for the course, and coffee replaces water, and eyes are propped open with toothpicks and duct tape.

The problem with such an approach is that it burns the team out faster, while introducing even more mistakes and quality issues. If you want to avoid this scenario, you need to plan things properly from the beginning; give your team enough wiggle room so that if something goes wrong (and it will) you won’t have to scramble to catch up.

Last Minute Scope Changes

It’s a sad fact that many clients have no idea how much work a task involves. When they hear that you’ve reached the final project stage, they may “just squeeze in” a last minute addendum to the project scope, just because they “just thought of it”, or that they didn’t “think it was a big deal”. This often happens during the approval phase.

When you define a project scope, make it absolutely clear to the client that these are fixed and only good for tasks already defined. They need to understand that if they have last minute additions, it will definitely impact the project schedule, add to the cost, and most likely affect the projects’ overall quality. Do your part and do a thorough investigation into the client’s needs—because who knows? They might actually need something that they haven’t thought of yet.

Image Credit: Flickr, Frédéric BISSON

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Weddings

When you’re planning the bride’s perfect day, nothing should be left to chance. Calendars and task lists help you keep track of fittings, bookings, and the other thousands of tiny jobs that add up to the grand production. Delegate effectively by tracking tasks assigned to specific people, whether they’re relatives, friends, or hired staff.  

Vacations

Having fun is a lot of hard work, especially if it involves a trip to somewhere foreign. You have to secure travel arrangements, make bookings, and develop an itinerary, not to mention keeping track of every single member of the group and what they’ll be taking along or doing.

Home Renovations

Home improvement projects can seem like they go on forever (and sometimes they do). The moment one project is done, another pops up; it’s easy for some to fall by the wayside. But this is your living space you’re talking about, and ignoring your kitchen for several weeks means nobody’s going to be cooking food. The right PM tool can help you stay focused and finish the most important ones first.

College Thesis

Yes, you can still use project management software while you’re in school. In fact, a thesis or group project would be an ideal place to start. Some tools offer task deadline alerts, which you can use to help keep team members motivated (especially the difficult ones).   

Film Production

This next one just cries out for project management software. Whether it’s a small independent production or big studio venture, shooting for film or TV is a very complex undertaking. Everything is interconnected: casting, script development, shooting, post-production, and more. The producer needs to keep an iron grip on the production schedule and have all relevant information at the push of a button.

Parades

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. There’s much more to a parade than putting fifty groups of floats, marching bands, and performers in a line and telling them to start walking. A parade organizer has to juggle civil permits, float inspections, route security, and a whole slew of other details. Project management software would help keep these tasks organized and tracked so nothing slips through the cracks (especially float inspections).

Don’t limit yourself to just the ones on the list. Like I said before, projects are widely defined and can be found in every aspect of business—or even everyday life. What kind of project do you think could use project management software?

Image Credit: Flickr, grandvelasrivieramaya

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You can reach all of our white papers through this project management white papers link here, and download as many of them as you like. Some of the topics that are covered are:

• Best Practices for Marketing Organizations in Implementing Project Management Software
• Fighting Internal Resistance in Projects
• Planning for Success
• Dealing with Changing Project Requirements

So if you want to check out these and some other very valuable topics, head on over to our white papers page and learn to your heart’s content!

Image credit: Flickr, Newton Free Library

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Every organization, whether a PMO or an internal team, needs an established project management process in order to give direction and organize their teams, as well as promote best practices that will (hopefully) lead to quality projects.

Unfortunately, not all of these processes actually help. In fact, some are downright harmful. But you might be so intent on finishing the project that you don’t see your current project management process for what it really is: an obstacle.

To help you gain some perspective, I’ve listed a few of the biggest signs of a bad project management process:

People Focus on Process, not Projects

A project management process is meant to make things easier for you by telling you what to do, when to do it, and how to do it properly. Granted, you also need to remember records keeping, updating project management tools, client billing, and more, but if your team starts focusing on all these administrative tasks instead of doing actual work, then you have a problem. Many large companies suffer from process-oriented workflows.

Wasted Effort

How many of the reports that you make are actually read and acted upon? If you don’t know the answer, then maybe you should question why you’re doing it in the first place. Redundant and filler reports are a waste of your time, and a waste of your team’s. If you can’t get rid of them, then combine reports or automate report creation and earn yourself a little breathing room.

It Creates Conflict, not Cooperation

Offices have limited resources. We get that. But if your solution is to have project managers face off against each other gladiator-style, spitting and clawing for the same team members, then you’re creating a hostile work environment. Competition is healthy. Conflict is not.

Project Management Process Imposed From Outside

Do you know who set this process up in the first place? Sometimes, management or the client will set up or introduce changes to a project management process that serves their purposes, not that of the client. For example, some companies stop work once you reach a certain amount of hours. While it’s good for a client’s budget, it kills project momentum and ends up being more expensive in the long run. Other examples include additional reports, excess client involvement, and management “fads” that do nothing to move the project forward.

Nobody Follows It

The surest sign that your project management process doesn’t work is when people ignore it entirely. They just go do their own thing. It’s disorganized and messy, but it still works better than what your process imposes. So what are you to do?

The first step towards improvement is to realize that it needs to happen. Once you know it, make sure other people know it, too: from team members to management. Make a strong case for change, and point to the signs we’ve just shown you as evidence. Only then can you figure out how your project management process can improve.

Image Credit: Flickr, Dough Wheller

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Batman is one of the comic world’s best fighters, but not because of his muscles or his gadgets. His best asset is his mind: he has plans, and plans within plans, and plans that happen on the fly. If there’s anything a project manager can learn from the Dark Knight, it’s how to think ahead.

Knowledge is Power

In a world of super-powered beings, Batman succeeds because he knows more than anyone else, about everyone else. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of nearly every person he’s ever encountered, and is such a polymath that it’s easier to keep track of what he doesn’t know.

While you’re not going to encounter any super-villains at work (except for horrible bosses), you can still plan the Batman way by being intimately familiar with your industry, your team members, and your clients and stakeholders. Avoid nasty surprises by using project management tools to stay informed on project progress.

Plan Past Your Limitations

Under that cape and cowl, Batman is just a rich boy with daddy issues. And yet he beats super-strong 500-pound gorillas on a regular basis. Why? Because he works past his physical limitations.

Don’t charge into a project when you know you don’t have the resources to handle it. Instead, think outside the box and find ways to compensate. Borrow from another team. Take a class. Or even get some outside help.

Make Backup Plans

For every plan Batman uses, he’s got 5 more just in case. He’s able to adapt to any situation because he’s already planned for the worst-case scenario, and worked his way up from there.

When creating your project plan, don’t rely on the best-case scenario. Any project manager worth his salt can tell you that most projects don’t stick to the original schedule. Plan for project delays, manpower shortages, bugs, and client resistance, and you’ll be better prepared when these things actually happen.

Be Goal-Oriented

The Dark Knight never takes his eyes off the prize, whether it’s beating down a super villain or rescuing a damsel in distress. Everything he does moves him closer to the goal, even if it’s not immediately obvious.  

Project managers should be the same way. You shouldn’t get so involved in the details that you lose sight of the big picture. Critical path is a great way to keep focused, and maximize your team’s effort to getting the project done as fast and efficiently as possible.

But perhaps one of the biggest reasons Batman has lived through so many fights is because he never gets complacent. He never stops learning, never stops improving. He doesn’t know the meaning of the word “enough”, and neither should you.

Image credit: Flickr, Anirudh Koul

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As a project manager, it’s important for you to get along with your team, but how chummy is too chummy? Is that even possible?

Unfortunately, yes. While friendship in the team is a great thing, and can lead to loyalty and team cohesion, it can raise some pretty big negative issues if handled the wrong way, especially in a highly competitive work environment.

Friendship and Recruitment

Hiring from among your friends is common practice—that’s what networking is all about. But are you hiring because your friend needs a job, or because the job needs your friend? Certain roles may allow you to be a bit lax with your friend’s qualifications, but project management is such a high-stress, demanding environment that there is no leeway for that kind of cronyism. Even if your friend already works for the same company—or even the same team—you still need to make sure they can do the job as good (or better) than anyone else.

Challenging Authority

Groups of friends have a different social dynamic outside of work than inside. Your best friend outside of work could be your biggest problem employee within the team, just because he’s not used to you ordering him around (especially if he thinks you’re wrong).

If you do decide to hire someone from outside work, make sure that you set expectations on the reporting structure, and how your relationship within work will affect the one outside work.

Friendship or Favoritism?

You know how it goes: easy/plum tasks, more allowances or perks, better treatment all around—favoritism is a real risk when you have a close relationship with someone on the team. And even if you don’t, it can always be seen that way by other jealous or unhappy team members.

I’m not saying you can’t be friends with anyone. You can and should. Just make sure you’re fair and even-handed with everybody, including your buddies. Especially if it means reading them the riot act (if they deserve it). And make sure they know you’re not going to give them special treatment.

Tricky Terminations

The trickiest part about being friends with a co-worker is saying goodbye—especially if you’re the one forcing them out. Whether it’s bad performance, retrenchment, or a plain bad fit, axing your own friend is probably going to burn a bridge. The best thing to do is to be as diplomatic as possible and that you still hope to be friends. They may understand why you made the decision and be mature about it, but there’s no guarantee of that until you actually get there.

Image credit, Flickr, Redteam

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Depending on the person you’re talking to, saying “no” to a manager or client can lead to a very nasty situation. They’re sometimes hell-bent on bad ideas because they’re either misinformed or working off wrong assumptions. If you don’t handle the situation properly, it might do more than just sour the working relationship—it may even cost you a performance review or even the project.

But does that mean you should turn into a “yes” man, just to keep the higher ups happy and your job secure? Absolutely not! If anything, letting them have their way all the time will result in a failed project and be even worse for your career.

Instead, try these useful tips for telling people “no”:

Build up Stock

The best way to protect against a bad client reaction is to get the client to trust you. When the client knows that you have their best interests at heart, they’re less likely to have a knee-jerk reaction when you tell them you have to axe one of their pet project’s features.

Support your Arguments

You wouldn’t tell your boss “no” without having a good reason, would you? You just need to communicate it properly and make sure they understand your point of view. If you’re going to say “it would never work,” tell them why. Explain it logically and get them on your side, so that they can in turn argue on your behalf.

Be Diplomatic

Screaming or throwing a tantrum doesn’t help your argument at all (even though it would feel really, really good). The best way to get your point across is to be calm and diplomatic at all times—even when someone is trying to steal your resources.

Offer Alternatives

This is the most helpful way of denying a manager’s request, and probably the one that will get you the best response. It shows that your focus is on getting things done in the most effective way possible, and that you’re not just saying “no” because you’re hard-headed or selfish (even if you are).

The beauty of the tips I’ve just listed is that you can use them on anyone, not just managers or clients. Pushy co-workers? Meddling rivals? Use the power of logic and diplomacy and protect yourself—and your team—from outside interference.

Image credit: Nathan Gibbs, Flickr

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Interpersonal disagreements happen all the time in the workplace, especially in high-stress environments like project management. But when it’s your manager who’s got a problem with you, it can seem like the end of the world. Suddenly you get the cold shoulder, a crappy evaluation, or more menial tasks—or none at all! Your work becomes a living hell, and it seems like you’re only options are to quit, or grin and bear it.

Not true! It doesn’t have to be that way! Here’s what you should be doing instead:

Check That it’s Real

First off, are you really being picked on? Or is it just your imagination? Is your project manager just naturally prickly? Watch him interact with other people and see the difference/similarities. Better yet, ask a friend for his opinion and see if he sees it the same way.

Look Inward, Then Outward

Before you confront him or march to HR, ask yourself: am I doing something to cause this situation? How is your performance at work? Did you say or do something to offend him personally? If you can find the cause and correct it on your own, it will keep the incident low-key and reflect better on you.

Keep it Between the Two of You

It’s best not to make a public issue of this until you’re absolutely sure what’s going on. Even if you have a pretty good idea of the cause, it’s always best to get it straight from the horse’s mouth. If you can work yourself up to it, speak to him in private (whether in person or in email) and bring up the issue. Don’t involve anyone else (except maybe for getting neutral opinions) unless your situation demands outside intervention.

Don’t Make it About You

It sounds like conflicting advice, since you’re the one feeling pressured and victimized. But too much emotion can spin the conversation out of control and make things even worse. Don’t accuse. Explain what particular instances or behaviors are making you feel uncomfortable and why. Give your project manager an opportunity to explain his points. For all you know, he might not know that he’s making you feel this way. In this case, he’ll apologize and the air will be clear.

If your project manager really does have a problem with you, ask what you can do to correct it and how you can work smoothly together moving forward. If what he’s asking isn’t possible, discuss it with him and try to come up with alternatives.

Project managers aren’t the only ones who need to have good social skills. Team members need to be able to relate well with their co-workers and be wise enough to solve social problems on their own, especially if the person who’s supposed to be helping them is part of the problem. You can’t make everybody happy all the time, but if you can work out your disagreements like adults, then your team will be able to function as one happy family.

Image credit: rhys_kiwi, Flickr

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